page_title: Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh
section_title: Return to Vietnam
hierarchical_section_title: Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh / Life / Return to Vietnam
caption_attribution_description: English: Maupérin portrays the seven-year-old crown prince of Cochinchina (modern Vietnam) in a fanciful costume that conflates a Western silhouette with Eastern influences, including an intricately tied turban that inspired French wig designers, igniting a fashion craze. Rebellion at home had brought the prince to Versailles to seek aid in 1787, and he received an intimate reception; the prince played with the royal children but also met with dignitaries such as Thomas Jefferson. The mandarin’s hats on the table and chair may represent gifts he brought with him.
context_page_description: Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh, also known as Prince Cảnh, was the eldest son of the Vietnamese Prince Nguyễn Phúc Ánh, the future Emperor Gia Long. At the age of seven, he famously visited France with the French Catholic Father Pigneau de Béhaine to sign an alliance between France and Vietnam. Although Prince Cảnh was the legitimate heir to the throne, he died before his father, and none of his descendants ascended the throne after his half-brother Nguyễn Phúc Đảm was chosen by Gia Long.
context_section_description: The party would leave France in December 1787 on board the Dryade, again staying in Pondicherry from May 1788 to July 1789. After his return from France, he refused to kneel in front of the altar of his ancestors, and painted crosses on Buddhist statues. He would regularly attend Catholic mass, but was not formally baptized although he wished to.
  In 1793, Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh became "Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace" (Vietnamese: Đông Cung Hoàng Thái tử). From 1794 he participated to all the military expeditions, and his father Nguyễn Ánh insisted that he be accompanied every time by Father Pigneau de Behaine. He was besieged by the Tây Sơn with Pigneau de Behaine in the citadel of Duyen Khanh in 1794.
  After Pigneau de Behaine died at the Siege of Quy Nhon in 1799, Prince Cảnh made a funerary oration to his former master:
  "Alas! We had been so close for so many years, and we lived continuously amid war and troubles (...) You devoted yourself to recover the fortunes of Annam, and, as a consummate strategist, elaborated plans for the defeat of the enemy. The usages of our countries may be different, but our hearts weren't, united as they were in the strongest of friendships."
  — Funerary oration of Prince Cảnh to Pigneau de Behaine, December 1799.
  Prince Canh seems to have been baptized secretly towards the end of his life. According to Vietnamese annals:
  "When he lived with Master Vero (Pigneau), he was good, pious and religious. After the passing away of Master Vero, the Prince changed his character, involving himself more in sexual activities with women and drinking. He totally forsake religion. Only when he was near his death, he turned his thoughts to Jesus. He felt repentant and secretly asked a minor Mandarin to baptise him so as no one would ever know.
  — Vietnamese annals.
  He died in 1801 of smallpox. Missionaries claimed however that he was poisoned. Cảnh was given the posthumous name Anh Duệ Hoàng thái tử (英睿皇太子 lit. "The Crown Prince who is outstanding and forethoughtful") by Gia Long. He was buried in Bình Dương, Gia Định (in modern Bình Dương Province).
  As Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh was the presumptive heir to Gia Long, Canh's eldest son Mỹ Đường was next in line for the succession. Gia Long however changed the primogeniture rule of succession to include "testamental measures" (gia thien ha), and ultimately changed his successor to his fourth son, who became emperor Minh Mạng.
caption: Full portrait of Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh, eldest son of Gia Long, who accompanied Pigneau de Béhaine to France in 1787. Painted by Maupérin, 1787.
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